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Course Description

Summary

The course will expand on  the initial ideas presented in the Fall workshop, Blood, Sweat, and Tears which focused on the work of contemporary justice artist Russell Craig.  Through work that is both confrontational and contemplative, Craig’s pieces create a platform to help unify all who have struggled through trauma and advocate for positive change. Russell often describes his art as his expression of the trauma he feels under the weight of white supremacy and the structural violence it supports. Others Black artist throughout American history have done the same things. We will look at others artists who have developed art in or post-release from prison during the era of Mass Incarceration, compare it with the art of Black people in each of four eras that precede Mass Incarceration: Slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and Ghettoization. The goal is to encourage students to view issues of race and justice through the multidisciplinary prism of humanities, social sciences and history.